EU takes Big Blue to the cleaners

The European Union has launched an antitrust probe against IBM after complaints that the outfit abused its dominant position in the mainframe computer market.

IBM said it has “done nuttin” and the charges are being driven by its business rivals who are lead by the evil Microsoft. It was all a cunning plan to further cement the dominance of Wintel servers by attempting to mimic aspects of IBM mainframes without making the substantial investments IBM has made.

The European Commission, said that investigation was partly based on complaints filed by software vendors T3 and TurboHercules. The commission said IBM allegedly "engaged in illegal tying of its mainframe hardware products to its dominant mainframe operating system."

IBM is also accused of trying to shut out potential competitors in the maintenance services market for mainframe systems "by restricting or delaying access to spare parts for which IBM is the only source."

IBM said it is only trying to protect its intellectual property and its competitors, which have been unable to win in the marketplace through investments in fundamental innovations, now want regulators to create for them a market position that they have not earned.